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Show WHY TIMBER DECAYS.' f: ' . ' Prof. Bessey, in the Ames (Iowa) Intelligencer, disoueses, tho reasons why timber decay rapidly m that 'm r 1 1 1 ( '; v V state. He says if decaying wood is k' examined carefully there Tvill b found in it a lot of whitethveads looking look-ing like a mass of spider-webs; that ? under a microscope ench thread showi j that it is a string of living cells, and each cell a plant cell of a degraded type; that these white threads bear parasites, drawing their existence ' ij from the wood and causing its death r and decay. The professor says this L white plant produces little spores by the million, and wherever one of them falls a new plant may spring up The preventives against the introduction N . ' or growth of this parasite are white- j wash, creosote, blue vitriol or copperas f j liberally applied to, the surface of the - i i timber. . 4 Jrt, |